The Libertores: Come on Irene...

Hurricane Irene hit New England on Sunday, August 28. There was very little media coverage of my beautiful home state, Vermont, while they were getting pummeled with heavy winds and rain. We lost contact with my parents at 5pm and had no idea how they were doing or what was going on. Thankfully, through Facebook and Twitter, we were able to determine that their street was high enough to be unaffected by Patch's Dam, which did not hold and flooded nearby neighborhoods. A mere 2 blocks away, Pearl Street was evacuated and just a few hundred feet away, Route 7 was washed away. My parents sustained very minimal damage (Thank God!) A little flooding of the basement and a broken tree limb. The house on Bomoseen fared well, too... (although the boat was freed from the lift and was missing for a while. It was recovered and in excellent condition.)
The damage to Rutland and many other small towns in Southern VT is astounding and still there is little media coverage. Killington is inaccessible and hundreds are stranded without food, power, or water. Some volunteers were able to drop supplies to them by helicopter. Governor Shulmin made a statement Monday that "no communities were stranded"... really? I sure hope FEMA wasn't watching! I'd like to chopper him to the top of Killington and tell him his family is waiting for him in Rutland. And by the way, Route 4 is gone! Good luck.
Ranting aside, we will be traveling up to Vermont (taking a very round-a-bout route to get there!) with a car full of supplies. There are some wonderful folks that started a volunteer and restoration effort via facebook called Restoring Rutland. We plan on volunteering our time and brawn (ha!) on Saturday. Word is there are many farms without power that need volunteers to hand milk their cows. It should be interesting!
Here are some photos and videos of my beloved home town...